Samsung has found itself in troubled waters once again. The company is being taken to court by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) over allegations that it misled its customers over some of its Samsung Galaxy smartphones’ water resistance. According to ACCC, Samsung has been showcasing its smartphones in or close to unsuitable environments like swimming pools and oceans since 2016, even though it did not have the basis to make such representations.
Speaking on the matter, ACCC Chair Rod Sims said, “The ACCC alleges Samsung’s advertisements falsely and misleadingly represented Galaxy phones would be suitable for use in, or for exposure to, all types of water, including in ocean water and swimming pools, and would not be affected by such exposure to water for the life of the phone, when this was not the case.”
The lawsuit against Samsung is said to be based on a review of over 300 advertisements.
A number of Samsung Galaxy devices have been advertised as having IP68 water resistance. This means that they can be kept in 1.5 meters of water for 30 minutes without getting damaged. However, according to ACCC, this does not cover all types of water and it is worth mentioning that Samsung itself has said that Galaxy S10 is not recommended for beach use.
Sims further added, “Samsung showed the Galaxy phones used in situations they shouldn’t be to attract customers.” He further argued that customers value water resistance as a feature and would have been driven to buy the handsets on the basis of it, but were deprived of making an informed choice. He said, “Samsung’s advertisements, we believe, denied consumers an informed choice and gave Samsung an unfair competitive advantage.”
The South Korean technology giant spoke to Reuters about the matter and said that it is standing by its marketing and will fight the case.
We should mention that ACCC alleges that law breaches have been made by Samsung in over 300 advertisements. If these allegations are proved, each breach after September 1, 2018, can be subjected to a fine of up to A$10 million ($7 million). To be precise, this is triple the benefit of the conduct or as much as 10% of the annual turnover.
The first time that Samsung’s water resistance claims were questioned was in 2016 when its Galaxy S7 handset, that was shown to be dunked in fish tanks in advertisements, failed an immersion test.
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